Today I got quite a sobering email from a site visitor (who is also a master club maker)…

“Your problem is not a lack of money, it’s a lack of tournament experience.

Even if someone stepped up and paid ALL of your expenses for the next year you wouldn’t get any closer to getting your card because you have no tournament experience.

You need to join a course (or club), get your SCGA handicap card, start posting ALL of your rounds and playing in local tournaments. You’ll soon realize that if you can’t break par at the Long Beach Open or Inland Valley Amateur (they have pro flights), there’s no way you’ll get -10 at Q-School (which is probably what you’ll need).

95% of Tour players worked at golf courses while they were trying to get their card (the other 5% went straight from college). They played in local and regional mini-tours , and local tournaments that offered some sort of prize $$, and any big skins game they could find. Ask around at Shorecliffs or Roger Dunn Santa Ana and you’ll find where the big skins games are every day of the week.

You need to work at a golf course so you can play often. Just tell them your plans, I’m sure you won’t be the first guy they’ve hired trying to get his card, they’ll work with you on your schedule.

You cannot skip over playing local tournaments and getting experience posting under par numbers on pro-length courses under pressure. If you think you can just practice a lot and show up at Q-School and shoot -10, you’re fooling yourself.

While I’m sure all the attention this blog gets gives you encouragement, I’ve read all your posts, seen your swing clips, listened to your descriptions of your rounds, and what I can definitely tell you is this: You’re not as good as you think you are. I hope that doesn’t come off as harsh, but it’s the truth.

You’re not going to get your card any way other than what I just described above, so start applying at courses, and ONLY at pro-length courses. Getting good at 6400 yard tracks will only set you up for a shock when you play 7200 yard beasts in tournaments.

Good luck !

Carl”

So I wrote Carl back, first thanking him for the reality check, but more importantly, I asked if he plays much himself, and would be interested in a match…

Hi Response:

“I like it. I’ve played Shorecliffs a few times so we can play there, that way I won’t have to listen to you cry about not being familiar with the course

We’re probably about the same handicaps, so we can play straight up. I’ll offer you a prize: if you win, I’ll set the lofts and lies on your irons for free.”

So Carl and I are scheduled to play Tuesday. Cant wait to get those clubs lofted my man!

Today I met up with a guy who’s supported this project immensely since he heard about it on in ESPN.com; he sent me two pairs of golf shoes right away and joined the Leaderboard a few months later by donating half the money he won in a bet over The Master’s.

Anyhow, we met up at a 9 hole executive course in Manhattan beach to play. We did a friendly match-play to decide who would buy lunch, and, well, I shot 2 over and won, so now we can add a free lunch the contributions! Around the course I asked him what he thought the next steps should be, but, even being a natural risk taker himself, wasn’t quite sure.

Later a few emails came in:

My Godmother wrote, “Put the suit on! We love you but tilting at windmills is not going to get you where you want to be. Regroup. Put your education to work for you and then maybe take another swing at it. “

Another guy who’s been pulling for me in the Bay Area wrote,

“The first thought I have, is NEVER put the suit back on. If your desire is to see this thing out and achieve your goals, going back to a 9-5 gig is a zero sum move. There has to be a combo of a part time job (have you ever been a waiter?) and golf lessons that can see you through each month. The only way you can make this happen is with experience on the links, that has to be your main focus. You can’t quit yet, you haven’t given yourself enough time!

-Tony “

Talk about conflicting opinions, but, I like where your head is at Tony!

The past few weeks have been a lot of fun. I’ve been playing every day, shooting good scores. Last week I got to caddy for Alan (swing coach) in the SR USOpen qualifier @ San Gabriel CC.

Watching Alan play was a great experience (a former US Tour player and now SR Euro-Tour pro). He was on point throughout the day, but ran into some trouble on the par 5s, and one par 4 with 3 bogeys, hit one birdie later on, but missed the play-off cut by 2 strokes. Talk about a heart breaker.

This week, I’ve had to face the harsh reality that I’m probably not going to make to Qschool next month because, A. there’s a $3500 entry fee and B. Even if I did enter, my gut tells me it’s a 50/50 chance of getting through the prequal & stage 1.

I need more time…

So, at the moment I’m struggling between going back to work for a few years and potentially doing this again in 10′/11′, or, try and scrape by and keep playing for another year…which I’d love to do, but, doesn’t seem realistic as there are bills to pay.

Here’s how it breaks down: I have a car, that after insurance costs about $500/mo, a health insurance policy that runs $230/mo, mobile communication for $100/mo, a gym membership @ $40/mo, the ShoreCliff’s unlimited golf pass @ $300/mo, oh, and throw in another $500/month to put some food in the stomach and gas in the car, and $550 for a place to sleep at night.

So all in, to keep this project going we’re looking at over $2K/month in expenses.

For the most part, my peers provide mixed feedback. Some fellow risk-takers push me to keep going. “live in a tent, get a motorcycle, eat rice and drink water, you went from shooting in the 100s to 70s in 9 months, do you know what you’ve accomplished?!?” while the more reserved ones usually say “You had a great run Erik, but, it’s time to face reality, your resume is getting cold”, and, that is also very true.

One option considered was to get a part-time gig at night to allow me to still play during the day; bar tending seems like and obvious route, but those gigs are hard to come by this time of year and staying up all night working another type of shift job would just cause me to sleep all day instead of play golf.

Getting a job at a course was another idea as it would eliminate the cost of playing golf and provide some income, but, not many places are looking for a guy who wants to work 15 hrs/week just to get free golf.

Giving golf lessons was also something considered investing; I’ve given a few here and there and most people have thoroughly working with me, but punching the numbers, it would require giving somewhere between 40-50 lesson/month to cover the cost of this adventure…

So, for the time being, all options are staying on the table; I’m entertaining putting a suit back on and going to work and still looking at ways to the continue PGAhereicome.

Got any bright ideas??? Email them to me…

Yesterday I didn’t play well. Luckily though I pressed the competition and ended up all square on our skins by the 18th hole. Getting back to the clubhouse, not having made any money, I spotted a guy putting quite well on the green.

Greg, a former greens keeper and now lifeguard for the city of San Clemente, informed me the guy’s name was “JJ” and was one of the best putters in their mens club. “Yea right” I though to my self. I quickly grabbed my putter and asked JJ if he and his friend wanted to play first-to-7.

So off we went, and they took a quick lead, 0-1-3. Then I sunk a putt, putting me on the board in 2nd place with two points. Next JJ’s friend sunk a put, there after, I got closest to the cup, making the score 3-2-3. JJ sunk another one, putting him up two points, but, I then hit one there after. Next hole I got closest to the cup for 1 point. Going first, I chose a hole 15 feet a away and left the ball 2 inches shy of the cup…JJs buddy went way left, then JJ sunk it to take the game. Now I was down 5 bucks for the day.

Feeling defeated, I quickly asked for a rematch and they both agreed. But, before we knew it, word spread around the clubhouse and we now had 7 players for a $35 pot. To accommodate the large field, we changed to game to 1-in-all-in, were everyone putts at the same cup, same ball, same putter, and if 2 people make the putt, you start over, but, if only 1 person makes it, they win the pot.

The first cup, not one guy hit. It was a 20 footer that rolled off the back no matter how you hit it. The second cup, one guy hit, but the last guy to putt (who shot a 68 that day) ended up saving the day by draining it bringing us to the 3rd cup.

The placement wasn’t very hard, a slightly down hill 16 foot putt, but for some reason no one could read it. Even though the whole green is built on the down hill slope, some balls were breaking slight left to right, some didn’t break; it was just one of those odd lines.

Going 3rd to last this time, I was taking a lot of heckling from the gallery. Getting on one knee to read the green, I said to myself, “This is a strait putt, don’t let the slope fool you”. From there I lined up, waggled, hovered over the ball, said a quick prayer to Ben Hogan, and let it rip.

I heard the ball, but waited a full 2 count before turning my head to watch it. It was moving at perfect speed toward the cup, but, as it got closer it started bumping around just a bit from the poor surface of the green. “Crap, here we go,” I thought, “it’s going to break right”.

Hogan must have been guiding that ball, with the gallery heckling, “not a chance, no way, etc…” it ended up dropping right in and I won that match. So, off I went with my $35 of winnings and on the way home filled up the car with some gas and had a juicy Carl’s JR 6 Star Burger for dinner.

Today I crushed the competition in a 5 balls skins match. Everyone decided to not give strokes, which is normally fine with 6+ people, but, with 5 or less is makes the playing field a bit uneven.

So, after a few pars and getting 1 skin, I then hit two birds in a row to go 3 up on everyone. Feeling a bit guilty I threw 2 holes away by going for the green on some short par 4s and Kevin “the sailor” (Ret. Navy) caught up a bit with 2 skins. Mike “the chef” however, continued to hit balls out of bounds and got increasingly hostile with his swing. The two other guys I think were drunk, because they didn’t make it to the green from then on.

I ended up taking the match on the last par 3 by saving par, humbly took the $40 pot and headed home. I told Mike “the chef,”, a 20+ HCP, he’d get a stroke per hole next time we played.

Getting home, “Hawaiian Mike” called me. He’s back home in Hawaii for a month and plans to go back to right back to Pattaya in July…goes to show you how much fun it is over there when you only go home to your place on the North Shore in HIWAII for a month and can’t wait to get back to Thailand.

Anyhow, turns out there was indeed a disagreement with The Golf Club and the IPGC and John (owner) has formed his own club with a few other bars in town.

I also found out Gonzo got a job in Djibouti (instead of Kabul). And that’s a real relief; the guy has been working in war zones for over a decade doing H2O purification and you can only push your luck for so long in that line of work.

Gave a few lessons this weekend (for free, but, with “consideration” to maintain my Amateur Status of course) might try and squeeze in a Pepsi Tour event before the holiday weekend.

As usual, heading down to the course tomorrow to play at 7am till dark.

Feeling a bit home-away-from-home sick I Checked out the IPGC site and noticed The Golf Club was no longer listed on the tournament schedule. Recalling my last day of golf at Siam Country Club, John, owner of The Golf Club was complaining about the IPGC screwing some bars over on rates and messing with rules of play for the club. The Owner of the Outback bar had similar feelings.

John is the type of guy that will always give you a strait answer, no matter what the consequence. He’s a retired Army Officer, gets up at 0-600 to make drip coffee (a luxury in Thailand) at the club each morning, drives everyone up to the course 4 days/week in a beat-up 8 passenger van, Has everyone listening to his collection of 60-70s rock and roll, place the same bets with the same guys each round, drinks San Mig Light with Ice in the glass, and usually finish off the night with a fine cigar around the bar around 7PM. John is living the Dream to say the least.

With that said, and Knowing him as a no B-S guy, he must have pulled The Golf Club from the IPGC and started a new golf association in Pattaya. Knowing ESPN probably wasn’t going to cover this global-golf drama I’m going to put an overseas call into the club and cover it a bit on PGAhereIcome.com.

Off to the Gym (0900) 5 ball skins match @ 1100.

Not having the financial backing to enter any real tournaments in the area with the Pepsi Tour or GS Tour, I’ve been trying to play along with the daily skins matches that go on throughout the day at Shorecliffs. Today we had 8 guys playing, $10 buy-in, most skins wins, strait up, no handicaps.

I was playing very well throughout the round, but couldn’t get any birdie putts in the hole, and for skins matches, you need to hit birds to win anything. Around the back, only 3 skins had been awarded because off all the pars pushing the holes. Then on hole 15, the new guy, who’s name is Tim (claimed to be 2.3 HCP) decided to show up and play after shooting a 45 on the first 9.

Now 1 under par for the back 9, Mr. Tim hit a daring approach shot with his driver into a bunker right next to the green (par 4). Playing “sandies”, awarding a skin to those who save par from the sand, Tim stuck his shot next to the cup taking the sandy and all the skins for his birdie as well.

Tim pared the rest of the holes to shoot 2 under on the back. Talk about a sand bagger…

No one knows where this guy came from, he claims to have grown up in the Inland Empire, was living in Riverside and I overheard him telling Robby he moved to San Clemente to live with some family because he ruined his business or something. Who knows, the guy is damn good though and I’m looking forward to more matches with him next week.

Picture below: Tim is teeing off, Robby/Kevin (shades) and Greg in back.

Today before meeting with Alan for a quick swing tune-up I stopped off at the local Roger Dunn Golf Shop. Browsing over the used iron sets a nice set of Titleist blades were in sight. Also near by was a set of “Bullet .444 Invincible II” blades that looked pretty similar.

I asked the guy what the real difference was between the two blades (both being about 10 years old) and he said “the logo”. And with that I decided to drop $59.99 on the Bullets, 1-iron through PW. The clubs work great, shots rips off the club face, but I have to admit the slightest swing error causes the shot to go quite sour.

While at the turn with the new sticks a small group of guys were chatting and watching some guy hit at the range. I went on to play and later found out in the clubhouse they were eying pro surfer Kelly Slater, who apparently lives near the area and when he’s not surfing enjoys hitting a few at Shorecliff’s…he must really be quite the hacker if he’s still coming to this goat track given all the money he makes surfing.

Around the back my buddy Robby and I paired up with an older guy from Korea who was a riot. Not a great ball striker, but had a hell of a great time. He asked me for a few tips, most of his questions were good, but, I did get laugh when he though his Driver’s grip was causing his tremendous hook. “I wish it was that simple of a reason” I told him after watching him tee off on #13.

It’s the Indian, not the arrow my friends.

Talent hides all around the golf course and often in the most unlikely places. One of the best ball strikers I’ve seen was the guy who cut the grass at the range in Pattaya. So, when the chef came out of the clubhouse to tee off the other day, I was hoping this would be one of those moments where you get to witness some undiscovered player, who could break-in and hit the scene like my own golf hero, Calvin Peete did in the early 1980s.

Unfortunately the chef wasn’t one of those players and, aiming way right to compensate for a terrible hook, he struck the ball dead strait and it went flying into the side of a house making a loud “Smack” sound on impact. But, while he’s not a very good golfer, he loves to gamble, so we played for a small pot on a few holes along with the two guys I play with each day and another course employee named Jake.

The match went a little slow because of the 5-some and, well, my buddy was a little off that day too. I’m not sure how this is possible, but his doctors have prescribed him 6 medications to take daily, ranging from bi-polar to migraine pills. Overall, he seems to do well with it; always very friendly and generous, but, having a fluid conversation is difficult at times and at least once a hole he’ll hover over the ball for a long time before a shot and you start to think he’s outright forgotten to swing.

Anyways, I’m helping him today with his swing. Believe it or not, he strikes the ball very well, but it’s all with his upper body. When golfer don’t turn there hips, they loose almost all their power. Hence, why this guy only hits his 8 iron 100 yards when it should be 130-165 yards.

In return for the favor he gave me a new golf bag, something I desperately needed. It’s an amazing light-weight bag, costs around $130, too rich for my blood to ever buy, but if you’re in the market for a bag, I’d highly recommend it.

Past 9 am, Shorecliff’s turns into a cow pasture because A. The course is short, B. The starter sends everyone out so long as they paid and C. It’s filled with people trying to learn.

I’m not sure what the attraction is for beginners except the price. Below is a pic from my favorite hole; 365 yard, par 4 with a tee box atop a cliff. Not exactly the best hole if you’re duffing around the course.

I got paired up with 2 nice guys yesterday and 1 lawyer. One of the nice guys works at the batting cages and drank a bit too much, so his swing got a bit out of whack as we went on. His friend turned out to be from Thailand so we had much to discuss. He said being born there there he had dual citizenship, but when he joined the US Navy and had to forfeit it.

I ran into him again today so we played a skins match with his friend Robby. Robby claimed to be a 13 handicap, but somehow he managed to collect all the skins and took the $15 prize by a large margin.

Anyways, my new Thai-American friend plays golf everyday as well. A few months back he got a DUI and got sentenced a lengthy probation that included a GPS ankle-bracelet, made popular by Linsay Lohan earlier this year. He plays everyday as a way to stay focused and not get off track. I’m looking forward to playing some more matches with him so long as his other friends aren’t sand-baggers.

Going out tomorrow morning to get another 18 in and turn in my 4th round. There’s a 3 man scramble in the afternoon hosted by the course’s mens club, so, I might get in on that as well.

One of my new “housemates” snores very loud, another was dipping into my milk in the fridge while I was playing today. I also noticed there’s no toilet paper in any bathroom. This is survival of the fittest.

Got out any played 18 today for the first time in 2 weeks. I didn’t bother warming up at all, so the first three holes went bad, +6, but I then went on to shoot 5 pars and a birdie. The total for the day was 84, not exactly my best, but for a first day back, no bad.

One guy in our group on the back 9 was a very bad and he couldn’t hit the ball more than 10 feet. He also was wearing a one piece mechanic’s jumpsuit with thin white/green lines running up and down it. I later found out he was blind, so, that explained that.

Completely wiped from today’s antics and staying up to watch the Celtics mop-up the Lakers for once! Playing 18 again in the morning, maybe 27.

GO Cs

After squatting at my good friend’s place this past week it was time to move on and get back to business. Running pretty much on empty I searched high and low for the cheapest accommodations possible near Saddleback College (where Alan teaches), San Juan Hills Practice facility ($55/mo, all you can hit) and Shorecliff’s GC ($200/mo, All you can play).

I stumbled upon a place on Craigslist for only $550/mo right in the heart of San Juan Capistrano, one of the oldest townships in CA, founded as a catholic mission in 1776. SJC is widely known for the annual migration of the grey cliff swallows. Beyond the birds, however, the town is very unique in that it retains a lot of old Spanish style architecture even in its modern construction. It’s also worth noting, 19th century author, Richard Henry Dana JR, once coined it the “only romantic city in California”.(wiki) And, Henry, you may still be right, but I hear there’s a lot of rivaling romance going on up in Newport Beach right now, so, heads up.

So the place is a 4 bedroom townhouse with 5, maybe 6 people living in it. The residents include an older woman (mid/late 50s?) who is currently on disability for hurting her back on the job, her son, who I think lives in her room, a construction worker in town for seasonal employment, another guy who works at a bar called “Swallows” (sounds like a classy joint) and me.

Moving in this afternoon was a complete circus. Apparently the one woman tenant already had someone lined up to live in the room I’m renting, so she had to call and get that straitened out. While on the phone with the landlord, she was trying to draw up a lease for the construction worker guy who had his son with him. During the phone conversation with the landlord, she complained in loud dulcet tones about the one other tenant, who turned out to be right behind her in the kitchen. He didn’t like that too much, and he grabbed the phone and stormed off to speak with the land lord himself. He later told me “good luck living here man”….

From there the construction worker took off and the woman started intensely crying, her dog started barking and there I was in the middle of chaos. I tried grabbing my bags to make a run for it, but I froze; deer in headlights. I couldn’t think of an excuse for leaving (with my bags) that wouldn’t make her cry more, I thought and thought, even considered sacrificing the clothes, but before I knew it she was asking for the check and, wham, I was locked in for 30 days.

So tonight I’m settled into a room walled with fake Knotty-pine, ½ the size of the one I enjoyed in Thailand for twice the price with a blow-up mattress. But, at the end of the day, I guess it’s all I really need.

Looking forward to seeing how this month goes…It should be interesting. Off to the gym now, playing for the first time in 2 weeks tomorrow.

Here’s some shots from the US Open practice rounds. The lighting wasn’t great and the LCD screen on my camera isn’t working, so only got a few decent shots in. Unreal what Tiger did today…I think Rocco is going to be cat-food tomorrow.

Found a place to live on the cheap down in San Juan Capistrano, CA 5 miles from ShoreCliff’s GC ($200/mo all you can play). The house I’ll be living in has the makings for a sitcom. Will elaborate more tomorrow…

The US Open was one of the most well organized sporting events. I can safely estimate that getting to and from Torrey Pines from Qualcom takes about the same amount of time to exit Yankee Stadium.

The golf course looks immaculate and quite difficult; 7400+ yards, with some fairways as wide as large tee boxes. Oh, and the rough is thick as Tina Turner’s hair and the greens are as fast as Usain Bolt.

I spent most of the afternoons hanging around the players on the course and spent the latter part of the day near the practice tees and greens trying to meet people. I was doing my best to network and try to get some advice on where I should go next, but, that was easier said than done.

Didn’t have much luck getting advice from pros or caddies, though, I did have a nice conversation with Derek Fathauer, a 22 year old amateur out of FL. Walking the course I had thought of how I would approach the shots where there was no visual of the target. I passed my thoughts along to Derek and surprisingly he though it was a good tip. I handed off my card to him and said “be sure to email me if it works out and I see you Sunday afternoon!”. I hope it does, and even if he doesn’t email me, he was still a damn nice guy.

I ran into Scott Van Pelt from ESPN. I asked him is Jason Sobel was there (golf columnist) and, at that very moment he came walking up. It was nice to finally meet Jason, he is also a nice guy and from the looks of it he will have plenty write about in his column next week.

Sales guys from the golf vendors were quite abundant. I met one from Titleist who previously headed their sales in Asia-Pac. When I told him I just got back from Pattaya, he grinned in response. Guess he may have spent a bit too much time on walking street?!?

Might have tickets tomorrow if my secret source comes through again. There are plenty of pictures. But they will have to wait for tomorrow as I need to go through them all.

Still no place to live yet. Need to get that worked out by the weekend. Shorecliff’s GC has a $200/mo All-You-Can-Play deal so, I’m thinking that might try to find something reasonable in San Clemente. If there’s nothing reasonable, there’s always the back of my car in the parking lot!

Hey, you never know…